A teacher has accused supermarkets of profiteering from Devon motorists after noticing much cheaper fuel prices across the border in Somerset.

Steve Hayman, 47, who lives in Cullompton, filled up at Asda in Taunton on Monday, paying 109.7p per litre of unleaded petrol.

On Tuesday, he noted the price at Tesco in Cullompton was 120p per litre, and he ended up filling up at Exeter Morrisons, where he paid 116.9p - 7p a litre more expensive than in Taunton 30 miles away.

Mr Hayman pointed out that if the price difference stayed the same for a year, using the Tesco filling station at Cullompton would cost a two-car family more than £400 extra a year compared to Taunton.

The AA reported that for November, supermarket prices for unleaded petrol averaged 116.5p per litre.

The UK overall average was 120.2p per litre - up 2.2p per litre from September. Diesel prices were up 2.3p to 122.6p.

The website www.petrolprices.com showed on Tuesday a wide range of prices across the region and within local areas - the lowest local prices ranged from 115.9p at Esso in Barnstaple; 116.9p in Exeter at Tesco and Morrisons; 120.9p at Cullompton Tesco and Horsdon Garage; 118.9p at BP in Paignton. For Taunton, the lowest showing was 109.7p at Morrisons, with 109.9p at Sainsburys.

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Mr Hayman said: “When I filled up at Taunton and saw how much more the supermarkets are making every family in Exeter and Cullompton pay for their petrol I just couldn't believe it.

“Like many families, we're struggling to afford presents for our children to open on Christmas Day, because we're finding it really hard to cope with the effects of Tory Austerity for all but billionaires.

“My wages as a teacher have effectively fallen by 21 per cent in real terms over eight years, so we can ill afford extortionate prices!

Fuel prices at Tesco in Cullompton on Tuesday

“Then we discover that supermarkets, who advertise as driving down costs down - and have benefitted from cuts to their corporation taxes - are actually asking people in Exeter to pay vastly higher prices.

“For instance, if our two cars need filling up just once per week, in Cullompton we would be paying over £466 more per year than families in Taunton.

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“The market in Exeter is just as competitive, supermarkets are just as equally spaced as in Taunton and it's exactly the same fuel, so it's disgusting that every man, woman and child is being made to suffer such apparent profiteering.

“It's a fact that prices - which are 10 per cent higher - makes it seem that people who live in our towns and cities are being fleeced by profiteering supermarkets.”

Mr Hayman's receipts from Exeter and Cullompton

According to the fuel card provider Allstar Business Solutions, the main factors affecting fuel prices are competition as well as supply and demand.

It says: “Lower fuel prices usually appear in cities with a higher number of petrol stations as the competition between retailers is higher.

"The opposite is for petrol stations in UK rural areas where motorists have no other alternative choice for filling up their cars and thus the prices are much higher.

"There are fewer people in rural areas which mean there are fewer sales, whereas in urban areas there are more people meaning more sales. It is simply, supply and demand.”

Supermarkets are run by bigger companies which can offer lower prices, which they can use to attract customers to their stores.